Shipment corner protector



(Jet. 26, 195 4 R. T. SUESS ET AL 2,692,720

SHIPMENT CORNER PROTECTOR Filed June 25, 1952 VENZ ORS I Y ama c. mfiiwvmmfl I5 ATTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 26, 1954 SHIPMENT CORNER PROTECTOR Ralph T. Suess,Menasha, and Donald C. Shepard, Jr., Neenah, Wis., assignors to MenashaWooden Ware Corporation, Menash-a, Wis., a corporation of WisconsinApplication June 23, 1952, Serial No. 295,096

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to improvements in shipment corner protectors,and more particularly to weight sustaining protectors for the lowercorner portions of crated shipments and the like.

Polished wood cabinets, appliances, and other pieces of furiture arecustomarily packed and transported in shipping cases and the presentinvention is primarily concerned with protectors disposed adjacentcorner portions of an encased piece of furniture or the like toadequately protect the surface portions of the piece of .furnitureagainst scratching and marring.

In copending application, Serial No. 262,030, filed December 17, 1951,now abandoned, there is disclosed shipment corner protectors which arevery adequate for the upper corner portions for an encased piece offurniture, appliance or the like. Where, however, shipment cornerprotectors are applied to the lower corner portions of a heavy piece offurniture, cabinet or appliance considerable weight is imposed on suchcorner protectors and they must be of a type to provide ample bearingsurfaces which will withstand considerable compression due to the weightimposed thereon. In the structure disclosed in said copendingapplication all of the bearing surfaces of the corner protectors arecomposed of superimposed layers of corrugated fiberboard with thecorrugations extending parallel to the angularly related furnituresurfaces to which the protectors are applied. With the corrugations soarranged, the corrugated layers may ccllapse or break down if subjectedto undue pressure due to weight imposed thereon.

With the foregoing in mind it is, therefore, a primary object of thepresent invention to provide shipment corner protectors especiallyapplicable to the lower corner portions of heavy articles of furnitureor the like and arranged so that the corrugated fiberboard layers at thebottom of the protectors which are subjected to the pressure from theweight of the article borne thereby are arranged longitudinally of thedirection of pressure thereon so that the pressure or weight is actuallyapplied to the ends of the flutes or corrugations with the result thatthe improved corner protectors can sustain many times the amount ofpressure per square inch than can the corner protectors of saidcopending application.

A further object of the invention is to provide corner protectorsespecially applicable to the corner portions of packaged case goodswherein the case goods or encased furniture rest on narrow surfaceswhich must bear the entire weight, the improved corner protectors beingapplicable to such limited surfaces to bear an undue amount of localizedweight and pressure.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensiveform of corrugated fiberboard corner protector having two surfaces atright angles to each other with non-abrasive protective facing materialto engage right angularly related vertical wall portions of a shipmentand also having rigid bottom supporting sections at right angles to theplanes of the first mentioned sections.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and relativelyinexpensive form of shipment corner protector foldable from a fiat formto a set up form.

A further object of the invention is to provide a shipment cornerprotector so constructed that a number of the same can be stored ortransported in flat condition with the non-abrasive facings of adjacentmembers in contact, the protectors being easily folded from flat to setup form for use on the lower corner portions of packed or crated piecesof furniture or appliances or on packaged case goods.

A further object of the invention is to provide a shipment cornerprotector which is of very simple construction, is easy to apply to thedesired corners of an article or case to be packed and shipped, which isrelatively inexpensive, which protects angularly related side wallportions of the article to which it is applied and forms a strongsupport for a bottom portion of the article, and which is well adaptedfor the purposes described.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists of theimproved shipment corner protector and its parts and combinations as setforth in the claim, and all equivalents thereof.

In the accompanying drawing in which the same reference charactersindicate the same parts in all of the views:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the improved corner protector in its setup condition showing its relation to a bottom corner portion of anencased cabinet or packaged case goods, the latter being shown in brokenlines;

Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of the shipment corner protector appliedto a corner portion of a package or article of furniture;

Fig. 3 is a plan view on a smaller scale of the corner protector in itsfiat condition prior to being set up;

Fig. 4 is an inverted plan view of the corner protector in its flatcondition looking at the surface provided with a non-abrasive facing;and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, it will appear that theimproved shipment corner protector, designated generally by the numeral8, prior to being set up takes the form of a polygon. Specifically, themember 8 in its flat condition for storage and transportation comprisesa pair of square sections 9 and Hi separated from one another by ascored line of fold II. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4 the lower margin ofeach of the square sections 9 and I has foldably associated therewith byscored lines I2 and I3 at right angles to the scored line II, bottomsections I4 and I in the form of rectangles. The rectangular section I5is coextensive in length with the side of the square section Itthereadjacent, while the rectangular section It is somewhat shorter thanthe side of the square section 9 thereadjacent, leaving between therectangular sections I4 and IS a space of sufficient length toaccommodate the breadth or transverse dimension of the section I5 whenthe protector is folded into a set up condition.

Each unitary member 3 may be easily cut, stamped or otherwise formedfrom standard multi-ply corrugated fiberboard or the like. While theinvention is not to be restricted thereto, the undersurface of a unit 8preferably carries a thin sheet of a non-abrasive facing material asshown in Fig. 4, which facing material forms the inner surface of thesections 9 and H1 when the unit 8 is in its set up condition, as shownin Fig. l. The facing material may be creped cellulosic wadding or thelike. Each of the scored fold lines I I, I2 and I3 comprises a slitextending through the various plys of the corrugated fiberboard from thesurface shown in Fig. 3 to an inner layer or ply so that the varioussections 9, I0, I4 and I5 may fold on said remaining inner plys,separating along said lines of severance, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. g

It is proposed that a corner protector unit 8, when it is to be used, befolded from the fiat form of Fig. 3 to the three-sided form of Fig. 1wherein the square sections 9 and I0 are at right angles to each otherand the rectangular sections 14 and I5 are folded upon the lowerportions of the inner faces of the sections 0 and i0 and abut oneanother to form a bottom for the protector of L-configuration.

In Figs. 1 and 2 the numeral It may represent a bottom corner portion ofa piece of furniture, appliance or carton of case goods. The improvedset up corner protector may be applied to any desired corner or cornersof the article or carton l6 but it has greatest utility in connectionwith the bottom corner portions of such member it, particularly wherethe member I6 is relatively heavy.

From Figs. 1 and 2 it will therefore be observed that the squaresections 9 and [0 have their inner protective facings in contact withright-angularly related side wall portions of the article or case I6,and a portion of the bottom of the article or case I6, which exertssubstantial pressure because of its bulk and weight, seats on the topportions of the rectangular sections I4 and I5. In the set up conditionof the unit these sections I4 and I5, as will be observed, have theirflutes or corrugations disposed axially of the direction of pressure orweight imposed by the member l6. These flutes or corrugations can, intheir longitudinal disposition, bear a very great amount of weight andpressure.

To maintain the unit 8 in its set up condition, a piece of tape may beapplied across the adjacent bottom portions of the various sections or,the various sections may be retained in their complementary set uprelationship by any other suitable means.

It will be understood that it is preferred to apply the improved cornerprotectors to the four bottom corners of a piece of furniture, applianceor case. If desired, the upper corner portions of the appliance or casemay have applied thereto corner protectors of the type shown in the pre-Viously mentioned copending application, Serial No. 262,030. When theappliance or furniture with the corner protectors applied thereto ishoused within a container or shipping case, the sections, of theprotectors 8, having considerable thickness, will space and protect thesurfaces of the encased article'from the inner walls of the shippingcase to prevent the surfaces of the furniture or the like from beingscuffed, scratched or marred. Also, the non-abrasive facings on thesection 9 and Ill prevent injury to polished surfaces to which they areapplied. If the corner protectors are applied to any exterior cornerportions of a case or carton, such corner portions will, of course, bematerially reinforced and the rectangular sections I 4 and I5 will bearthe weight imposed thereon without collapse.

It will be appreciated that if the corner protectors were to be storedor transported in their set up condition, they would be unduly bulky andwould require considerable storage space. However, in the fiat formshown in Figs. 3 and 4, a large number of the units 8 may be compactlystored or packed, preferably by being arranged in a pile with eachadjacent pair having nonabrasive facings thereof in adjacency.

The improved shipment corner protectors are of very simple construction,may be easily packed and shipped in their fiat condition, are easy toset up and apply, are adapted to withstand undue weight and pressurethereon, and are well adapted for the purposes set forth.

What is claimed as the invention is:

A three-sided shipment corner protector formed of multi-layeredcorrugated fiberboard sheet material, comprising a pair ofright-angularly related large sections of similar size and formationfoldably connected along their adjacent inner edges and having theircorrugations extending vertically, and a pair of relatively smallrectangular sections of multi-layered corrugated fiberboard sheetmaterial at right angles to each other and in endwise abutment andextending along only the lower inner face portions of said largesections with their corrugation parallel to those of the large sections,one of said small sections being of less length than the other and saidsmall sections being of different size and proportions than the largesections, each small section being foldably connected to the lowermarginal portion of an adjacent large section, said rectangular sectionscomplementing each other in the formation of an L-shaped ledge withtheir corrugated flutes adapted to underlie a load imposed on said ledgein a direction axially of the force of said load on the ledge.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,550,646 Larson Aug. 18, 1925 1,786,189 Bowersock Dec. 23,1930 2,160,221 Masters et al. May 30, 1939 2,271,265 Kirby Jan. 27, 19422,324,031 Schiffenhaus July 13,1943 2,670,122 Davidson et a1 Feb. 23,1954

